


Abandoned

by shansome



Category: Everyone Else is a Returnee, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, F/M, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Immortality, Lonely Midoriya Izuku, Magic, Martial Arts, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku has a stick, Midoriya Izuku is a Dork, Monsters, Overpowered Midoriya Izuku, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Romance, Takoba Municipal Beach Park, Tired Midoriya Izuku, Travel, U.A. Teacher Midoriya Izuku, U.A. is a University (My Hero Academia), because we need it, you better run
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28537713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shansome/pseuds/shansome
Summary: They could come back tomorrow, or never.All he could do was prepare.Or: Izuku Midoriya wakes up one day to find all of humanity gone.Except him.
Relationships: Midoriya Izuku & Everyone, Midoriya Izuku & Midoriya Inko, Midoriya Izuku/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 224





	1. Chapter 1

_2240_

Everything seemed normal at first. 

Izuku Midoriya woke up late. His mother hadn’t woken him up, but she probably just went to work already. 

He went through his daily routine. Breathing out in an attempt at fire breath, focusing on the All Might figure on the desk in case he had telekinesis. Even testing for teleportation. 

Nothing.

Izuku tried not to let the disappointment get to him at yet another failure as he started his trek to school. According to the quirk doctor, he had an “invisible quirk”, complete with the extra toe joint. The doctor had been confused by the test results. No one was quirkless by this generation. It had been 9 years since he was diagnosed however, and Izuku Midoriya was still powerless, and had nothing.

Defenseless.

Useless. 

Every other kid at school had an ability, ranging from relatively weak things like an intelligence enhancer to powerful quirks known for combat, such as Explosion. If only he could have something cool like that. A normal person would have probably given up on their dream, especially when it required fighting supervillians. 

But Izuku didn’t give up easily.

Izuku was drawn out of his thoughts by a strange feeling. Something was missing, but he didn’t know what. Maybe he forgot something at home? He checked his bag, but nothing was forgotten. His phone, wallet, and lunch were all there. But then it hit him.

It was too quiet. There were some birds chirping, but that was it. No bustling of cars as they zoomed by, no soft conversations around him. Izuku looked around, but there were zero people. There were cars, but none of them were moving.

Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself, his analytical mind racing. Clearly he wasn’t in any immediate danger, and there were no villains nearby. 

Maybe he had been transported by some kind of quirk? Or this was a dream? Nothing seemed different, the city the same only missing people. The second possibility was ruled out after Izuku pinched himself and nothing happened.

Izuku checked Aldera Junior High just to be sure, but there wasn’t a single soul in any of the classrooms. So instead of him being gone, everyone else was.

Meaning someone with some kind of warp quirk had kidnapped everyone. Everyone but him. Which didn’t make any sense, why was he left behind? His mom wasn’t picking up despite his attempts to reach her, something he was doing his best not to dwell on. 

She was all he had after all.

It was getting dark.

Izuku had been wandering for hours, but he still had no answers, only gaining more questions. There was nothing new in the news since yesterday, meaning that an incredibly powerful warp quirk had been used on an entire city and no one outside had even noticed! Which was impossible. Warp quirks were already extremely rare, and one this strong would have been docum-

Izuku paused, drawn out of his muttering spree by a flash of purple. He had zoned out, and in his walk back from the school Izuku had ended up at the neighborhood park. Turning to the left, he saw her.

She was sitting on a bench, watching the stars as they started to grow visible. Izuku’s eyes were drawn to the pink kimono the girl was wearing first, but then he noticed her hair. It was shimmering, stars _shifting_ in her purple hair. What an interesting quirk!

The realization that this was another person, finally, that might know what happened hit him a second later.

“E-Excuse me?”

She turned to him as he approached, her eyes widening in shock. 

“Do you know w-where everyone went?” Izuku asked. 

She stood up, still staring at him. Izuku was about to try English when she finally spoke.

“Are you a human?”

Izuku took a second to make sure he heard that right. Obviously, he was human. Even if he wasn’t always treated as such. Did that mean she wasn’t human? Or maybe she was one of those UFO watchers? Was she an alien?!

Izuku looked at her face again. She was beautiful, astonishingly so, but she didn’t _seem_ like an extraterrestrial. That had been flawless Japanese after all.

“Ah, so you are human. I’m not an alien by the way.”

Izuku blinked.

Did he just say all of that out loud?

“Yes.”

Izuku blushed, shutting his mouth.

“You must be quirkless then,” The girl commented. His first instinct was to deny it, but the words stopped in his throat. He was clearly powerless. And for some reason, Izuku didn’t sense any of the distaste of the word he was used to. She used the term as a fact instead of a terrible medical condition. Izuku hadn’t even met anyone who treated something so hated normally besides his mother.

“W-Who are you?” Izuku gathered up the courage to ask.

She smiled, and the dimly lit park got a little brighter. 

“I am Aurora, goddess of light.”

“I’m Izuku Midoriya. It’s nice to m-meet you Aurora-san.” Izuku wasn't too sure about the goddess thing, but with how bizarre his world was he just decided to think about it later. A thought struck him then.

“W-W-Wait, is that y-your family name?” he stammered out.

Aurora seemed to be confused at his embarrassment for a moment, before understanding showed in her eyes. 

“Right, using someone’s given name is considered rude here. Still, Aurora is fine.” she said. 

Izuku still felt a bit odd, but it wasn’t like he had anything else to call her.

“Aurora-san, H-How did you know I was q-quirkless?” he asked, tilting his head.

In response, Aurora motioned for him to sit down on the bench next to her. Izuku took the seat, getting a better glance at her clothes in the process. The pink kimono was intricately designed, but unlike anything he had ever seen before. She looked up at the stars, her expression growing thoughtful like she was wondering how to phrase her next words. It was now night the stars fully visible.

“Humanity is gone. They’ve all been transported.” 

Aurora spoke softly, as if she didn’t say billions of people had been moved. She continued, sensing his shock.

“Your dimension is set to collide with another soon. This normally would not be much of an issue, but this other dimension is filled with dangerous creatures.” She paused for a second, in thought. “I suppose you would call them monsters.”

Izuku vaguely thought this sounded like some sort of video game. Then again, hundreds of years ago the idea of everyone having superpowers would have seemed crazy. Now the most famous celebrity was a giant man in red and blue changing the weather with a punch.

“Humanity was sent to different fantasy worlds based on their quirks and dreams to prepare. Combative humans were sent to fight monsters, such as heroes. The rest had more peaceful lives, but still had the opportunity to get used to monsters.”

“That’s why I’m still here isn’t it? And how you knew I was q-quirkless? I couldn’t be transported because I had no quirk.”

Aurora nodded.

“W-What about children? Wouldn’t they be alone?” Izuku asked.

Kids separated from their parents in a strange world. What would happen to babies? The thought made his gut clench. 

She shook her head, not bothered by the barrage of questions. The stars in her hair twinkled from the motion. “Depending on the parents, they’ll either be sent with them or put into an...orphanage of sorts until they are sent back to Earth.”

“Where w-was my mom sent?” Izuku finally asked the question that had been burning inside him for hours.

If she was in danger, then there was nothing he could do to help her. Izuku doubted Aurora was allowed to take him wherever she was.

“Give me a moment.” Aurora closed her eyes, before turning her gaze towards him. 

“Inko Midoriya was sent to the dimension Nourishment. It’s a world focused on hunting monsters, but all of the ones there are relatively harmless. It’s peaceful too.”

She was safe. 

Izuku let out a breath, the weight on his shoulders feeling lighter.

“When are they coming back?” Izuku questioned hopefully. He’d have to wait here a few months maybe, but he cou-

“I don’t know.”

Aurora sighed.

“Earth has been frozen in time until they come back. Humanity will spend 5 years before returning, however time passes slower there. Meaning while they have an adventure, it could be ten or a million years before they return.”

Izuku's eyes widened. Then what about hi-

“You will have to wait for them.”

Her beautiful eyes grew softer in sympathy.

“Izuku Midoriya, you are the only human left on Earth.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic was going to keep buzzing in my head until I wrote it, so here we are. 
> 
> This is my first fic, so feedback is appreciated!

The first few months were a blur.

Aurora visited once a week, always appearing at the park. She brought him a week’s worth of food as well as ingredients. Izuku wasn’t an amazing cook, but he knew enough from the times his mother had worked late. 

He ignored the pang in his heart at the thought of Inko Midoriya.

Izuku practiced making Katsudon the most, the meal holding a special place in his heart. Aurora supplied him with pork, definitely not opposed to tastier meals. He made a note to learn how to hunt his own meat. 

He had small chats with Aurora, though lasting long from lack of common ground. Aurora was a goddess after all, and Izuku didn’t exactly have the most social life even before humanity was whisked away. 

Some days she spent the meeting ranting about the latest issue in her world. Aurora was really expressive when she got into things. Izuku chuckled softly as she waved her hands around wildly(“-and then she blew up my dress. Why? Is not having a battle in it that hard?”), her eyes wide.

Izuku appreciated her company a lot.

He threw himself into books. There was no one to stop him from walking into the library and laying there all day. 

It almost felt like a crime when he yelled out after stubbing his toe and nobody shushed him. Reading helped get his mind of the feeling of loneliness and his current situation.

While Izuku would usually be studying all the new heroes, keeping up his perfect trivia knowledge, what was the point? It wasn’t like he was going to see a hero nowadays anyway. Instead, armed with a pillow and blanket, he started studying. 

Izuku didn’t realize just how much the term “nerd” applied to him until he was given all the time in the world and picked up a medical textbook. Healing would definitely be useful when monsters were running around he figured. He wanted to be a hero, not a doctor, so he focused on the basics and how to help someone immediately. Learning medicine was hard without an actual teacher. Izuku had practice dummies from med schools(Izuku was quickly learning that it really didn’t matter if he broke into places) but no living thing to help him. 

When he told Aurora about his roadblock, she stared at him a moment before lifting her hand, purple light illuminating the park as a blade of light rose out of it until the handle rested in her grip. She then made a decent sized cut in her other palm before holding the injured hand out to him, waiting.

Naturally, Izuku immediately panicked at her thoughtless self harm. He barely noticed how Aurora’s blood wasn’t red, more of a gold color as it leaked from the wound.

Then the medical knowledge crammed in his brain over months took over, and he cleaned the wound. She hid it well, but Izuku noticed her tiny flinch from the water. 

He wrapped her hand back at his house. Izuku had plenty of bandages from how much he had to deal with his own cuts and burns. 

Really, the only people Izuku missed were his mother and heroes. Almost everyone else he saw treated him as trash. 

He hid his frown as an angry blonde came to mind, along with all the adults who didn’t care about his behavior.

Izuku would be happy if he never had to see Bakugou again.

“You didn’t h-have to do that.” He muttered under his breath when he finished with the injury.

Aurora still heard him however, her hand squeezing his before she responded.

“It’s because of us you're left alone. Humanity wasn’t even kind to you, and you still prepare for their return. The least I could do is help.”

They sat there, a nice silence lasting between them.

His empty house didn’t feel too lonely right now.

She spoke up again a few minutes later.

“Not that I mind, but how long are you going to hold my hand?”

Izuku made a sound akin to a distressed cat before letting go, his face red.

Aurora’s laugh sounded like bells as it filled the room.

_2241_

Izuku pushed the fridge with all his might, finally getting it into the truck. His arms felt like they were going to fall off, so he would probably stop here for today. He looked around at the various trash piled up, everything from kitchen appliances to cars. Izuku even found guns there. 

He had started cleaning up Dagobah Beach while exploring the city. Even after over a year, strolling through a city completely devoid of people felt strange. It was also impossible to ignore the giant heap of trash, especially after seeing pictures of the beach in its glory.

He had used a truck nearby to move his piles. Knowing how to drive didn't really matter when there was nothing to crash into.

While residents might love it being restored once they returned, he was also doing it for himself. The feeling of needing to accomplish something was powerful.

Izuku figured it also doubled as strength training. Aurora didn’t question his methods, although she did tell him to try going to a gym as well. He did, being able to freely use expensive gym equipment was definitely nice after all.

He had started learning to hunt. At first it had just been catching fish in the forest, but sometimes he tried birds and other small creatures. He wasn’t opposed to eating them raw after various camping trips. Izuku used the guns he had found on the beach. He made sure not to hunt too much while a food source of his own was definitely good; he didn’t know how the ecosystem even worked with the world frozen in time.

Since he only saw Aurora on Saturdays, he spent the rest of the time training.

His body felt like it was dying, but he felt happy at the thought of getting stronger.

Izuku wanted to keep up his reading time as well, but Aurora had caught on to the bags under his eyes and made him stop. There was no one else left to tell him to mind his health after all. 

If..no, _when_ the rest of humanity came back, they would be even stronger from their adventures, with more developed quirks. According to Aurora, they could learn magic based on their quirks as well. Izuku didn’t grill her on magic too much though. 

It was strange. Izuku loved talking about quirks. But thinking about magic, something that sounded so incredible and foreign, something he would never have, Izuku felt bitter. This was probably the way quirkless people had thought about quirks, back when others existed. 

He still had at least a few pages filled with Aurora’s light magic; how she could use it directly in offensive bursts or form tools and enhance herself. Izuku still didn’t know how the teleportation that she used to get to the god’s realm and back functioned. 

How weird would it be when everyone came back with stronger quirks and magic? The heroes would be stronger, but so would the villains.

Civilian casualties would probably increase. Izuku winced as he thought of the typical hero fight. A villain fighting a hero or several heroes, all with flashy, dangerous quirks. Despite this, civilians crowded around, enjoying the show from far too close. People brought their children, excited to see their heroes risk their lives in person. 

Many limelight heroes were into heroism for fame or money after all. Fights were drawn out, risking lives for the thrill of a climatic “Ultimate Move”.

Now that Izuku had time to actually think about it, completely separated from the hero media he had been dedicated to before, society seemed pretty bad. That was even ignoring how bad his life had been for being quirkless.

Maybe he would ask Aurora how exactly magic fit into quirks later. If he was still going to be a hero he would need to fight them after all.

The gap between the quirked and quirkless would only grow wider when humanity returned. In comparison, the only thing Izuku had was his body and mind.

All he could do was prepare as much as possible.

_2243_

They had moved their weekly meetings to Dagobah Beach.

It had taken almost a year of hard work. Once cleaned however, the view was absolutely beautiful. Izuku sometimes wondered how people could ruin something like this.

His physical training was definitely yielding results. Izuku had a decent base to start learning technique. 

“Hey Aurora?”

Eventually, she had gotten him to drop honorifics. Really, she was the only friend Izuku had since he was four.

“Yes Izuku?”

He still wasn’t used to her doing the same though.

“C-Can you train me?” Izuku asked.

Aurora turned towards him, the sunlight reflecting in her hair. Would it be rude to take a hair to study? Izuku _has_ been getting into chemistry lately. On second thought, that would definitely be creepy. He shouldn’t do that.

Oh gods, his social skills were getting even worse.

“I can’t make you my student.” she answered. 

His thoughts must have shown on his face, because she explained. 

“I fight almost completely using magic. Most of my fighting style wouldn’t be useful to you. However, I _can_ show you the basics of the god’s style.” She took a stance, her legs bent and spread apart, hands at her side.

The gods were humanoid, so their techniques could technically be learned by humans. However, Divinity was a style usually refined over decades. Aurora said this like it was nothing, but to Izuku that sounded incredibly complicated.

Gods possessed incredible amounts of physical strength, even ones who didn’t focus on hand to hand combat such as Aurora. Divinity was simple to learn but incredibly hard to master, focused on combining overwhelming power with perfect precision and technique.

They spent the rest of the day going through the basic stances, as well as how to punch and kick correctly.

Izuku practiced them until they started to feel natural.

2250

Izuku had started incorporating human styles, mainly Karate into his combat. He had seen fun forms of combat such as Capoeira in various books and media, but decided it wouldn’t fit him.

That hadn’t stopped him from learning to breakdance though. 

Sparring had been a spur of the moment decision from her after deciding he was finally strong enough. Aurora didn’t use her magic, but her natural strength still felt like getting hit by a truck despite how much she held back.

He forgot sometimes, but she really was a goddess. Aurora could probably easily take down the heroes in his world. Izuku could feel himself slowly reaching her in terms of technique after relentless practice. 

On some days(where he was sure that the world of gods had been stressing her out) they worked on his reflexes and dodging.

This consisted of bombarding the beach with giant beams of violet light, sending sand into the air and making the beach shake. The most terrifying however, was her spears of light.

On those days he wasn’t sure Aurora noticed how much power she was putting in.

It took all of his concentration not to get vaporized. 

How powerful was she when she went all out?

Izuku resolved himself to one day be strong enough to find out.

_2274_

Izuku decided to choose a weapon. 

He would need something to kill monsters. He was confident in his hand to hand combat, but he would definitely be more effective with a tool. 

Punching a dragon in the face wouldn’t work very well after all.

He had asked Aurora for advice, but he’d merely gotten a “Use what feels right.” before she went back to her shoujo manga.

Izuku regretted letting her know about manga sometimes. Aurora had gotten addicted instantly. 

She turned out to be right about weapons. After a short period of trial and error in the dojo, he picked up a quarterstaff. With the extremely helpful martial arts book, Izuku followed the instructions.

The recommended stance was simple. His feet were set wider than he was used to with the god’s style, probably to compensate for the length of the weapon. The dominant foot was in front, with the dominant hand placed near the middle. Going through the rest of the attacks felt smooth.

Izuku knew that he had quite a long time to train. It was easy to dismiss something not sharp, but blunt weapons could do quite a lot of damage with enough strength behind them.

His mind flashed back to Aurora’s fist knocking him out for 5 hours, making him shudder. 

The staff would hurt a lot, but if he held back he wouldn’t have to worry about killing villains or giving them brain damage. At the same time, with enough force he could deal with monsters.

Izuku could work with this. 

The next two months was spent practicing the basics and ingraining them into his muscle memory.

Aurora raised an eyebrow when he brought a staff to the next session. He had... _borrowed_ a durable metal staff to use. The green haired man took his shoes off, and got into stance. Getting sand into his shoes would suck.

He gripped his staff tightly, waiting.

Aurora made the first move, shooting forward, as her feet left imprints on the sand. Her magic curled around her like a coat, violet light emitting outward as she stabbed forward with a light spear. 

Izuku diverted the blade with the top of his staff before swinging the bottom at her chin. She was already moving though, ducking under the attack before rising up towards him. His eyes widened as her palm lit up.

He was too slow to dodge the light blast, and the blow sent him tumbling away in the sand. The breath was knocked out of him for a moment. Even while she was holding back, he wasn’t fast enough.

Yet.

Recovering, Izuku stood up with the aid of his staff in time to see Aurora charging up both hands, the energy condensing in her palms.

This was usually the part where Izuku would run around screaming as light destroyed everything around him.

But this time he was ready. He carefully controlled the staff with all of his focus, blocking the bursts. Izuku winced as a particularly strong bolt of energy made the metal crack.

Izuku needed a better staff.

Whatever he couldn’t block, he dodged as he broke into a sprint, closing the distance before making a downward feint with the staff.

Aurora fell for it, raising up a blade of light to block the blow. Izuku focused all of his speed into his next movement, transitioning the downward strike into a straight punch to her stomach. It landed, the blow sending Aurora skidding back.

Izuku felt a wide grin start to appear on his face. The strike probably did nothing to her, but he had landed a hit. 

This was _progress_.

They stopped by a restaurant to cool down after a few more spars. The day was almost up, and after they ate Aurora would need to go back to the god’s realm.

While there was no one there to actually make food for them, they could bring food to replicate the experience. Somehow, the atmosphere was still there.

The cold night air didn’t feel lonely when Izuku sat there with her.

They ate a bento Izuku had made that morning; his cooking had certainly gotten better years of practice. Aurora closed her eyes in bliss as she took another bite of the katsudon. Izuku felt a small smile form at her reaction. She had been slowly giving him his confidence back these years, something he could never thank her enough for. 

Something as simple as a compliment on something he worked hard on or a new skill he learned. Things Izuku rarely got when Quirkless. He had even stopped stuttering.

Aurora asked him about a hero she had seen a poster of earlier. The hero caught her attention by being known as the Youngest Pro Hero, yet still so high up in the rankings. The poster was filled with his bright smile and large red wings.

Izuku opened his mouth to answer, then froze. 

Who was that again?

As much as he racked his brain, he just couldn’t remember who it was.

According to the poster, the hero was ranked third. Izuku definitely had notes on him, so why couldn’t he recall who they were?

“Your forgetting, aren’t you.” 

Izuku looked up at her concerned face, eyes narrowing in...sorrow? Aurora set the paper face down on the table.

“Decades have passed by so fast. However, your mind is still human. You haven’t seen a hero in years, so you are slowly forgetting them.” she explained.

He was forgetting. 

In hindsight, it was strange it had taken him so long to realize. Of course he wouldn’t remember someone he hadn’t heard of in years. His brain would think of it as unused knowledge. That didn’t mean forgetting what life was like before didn’t worry him.

Suddenly, another thought struck him.

Izuku hastily searched his memories, before breathing out in relief.

He could still remember a short woman with green hair, her smile as she saw the All Might video yet again with him. 

Aurora knew him well enough to not say anything.

They ate the rest of the meal in peaceful silence. 

The deserted restaurant was starting to feel more natural than one filled with people.

When he got home, he set up a reminder on his phone.

Every week, videos of his mother would play.

Every week, so he could repay everything she did when she came back.

Every week, so he never forgot her.

After a moment’s thought, Izuku also set a counter to track the years. 

It had been 34 years. By human standards, he wasn’t even considered a teenager anymore. That was definitely a shock. 

Would he need to act like a teenager when everyone came back? People would change after five years. How much would he change after far more than that?

Izuku guessed he would need to wait another few decades.

If only he knew how wrong he was.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait!

_2296_

Izuku leapt to the side, instincts kicking in. He felt the rush of air as the ball tore past him at incredible speed before smashing into the building behind him.

“Really?!” he asked, slightly alarmed.

“Sorry!” came the yell from the other side of the court. Izuku sighed, picking another ball from the bag.

Izuku had been experimenting with various sports to play while bored. He came across tennis in a magazine and wanted to try it. 

He had almost no experience with games. With no friends, Izuku had no one to play with.

After Izuku showed her an image to use as reference, Aurora set up a tennis court made completely out of light on Dagobah Beach. Violet light represented boundaries, formed into a net, and covered the sand below them for a flat surface.

Magic really was incredibly useful.

Tennis was something that was impossible for him to practice when she wasn’t there, but that just meant they could get better at the sport together. 

If there was anyone else there to see them, they would be amazed at the game. A ball of light zooming back and forth at incredible speeds across a court of light, both players moving at similar velocity.

Aurora was having the time of her life.

Her starry hair waved wildly, somehow not getting in her face. Aurora’s smile was wide, almost blinding as Izuku was reminded once again why she was a goddess of light.

The warm feeling in his chest must surely be her magic.

Aurora didn’t seem to be tiring from the match. To her, supersonic tennis was probably light exercise.

Izuku, on the other hand, was using all of his concentration to keep up. Using practiced reflexes to predict the ball, he could make up for his current lack of speed. The effort was taxing though, and after a few hours Izuku’s t-shirt was drenched in sweat.

After...40?(He had to check that timer again) years spent training, Izuku’s body had become near perfect as he reached peak human condition. It had felt weird at first, years passing as he felt his body change yet not age a single day. He compared it to a very old American comic he had found, about a weak man given a special drug and was instantly strengthened to the limits of the human body. 

Izuku’s gained muscle mass condensed instead of piling on, resulting in a more lean frame. Izuku had stopped getting taller, and was now about a head above Aurora. 

This was another reason Izuku never stopped training. As long as the time on Earth was paused, he had a limitless capacity to get stronger.

Aurora was holding back on her speed to keep the match fair, but her control was slipping in her excitement.

Izuku knew that she had no reason to worry about holding back normally, as everyone else she knew was ridiculously strong. The fact that she tried for his sake showed how kind she was.

The workaholic part of his brain was happy with the intense training too.

“Hey Izuku?” Aurora asked as she spiked the ball, using _definitely_ too much force.

Izuku’s eyes widened, and he ducked as the ball slammed into the violet ground and rebounded where his head was. 

“Yeah? I’m not getting that ball by the way.” Izuku added as he watched the projectile zoom away.

There was no way he was looking for where _that_ landed.

Aurora rolled her eyes, creating another ball of light in her palm. They had started out using normal tennis balls, but the equipment always ended up exploding from the force(Izuku blamed Aurora completely).

“Have you ever thought about travelling?” Aurora asked, out of nowhere.

“Aren’t you not allowed to take me to any other world other than Earth?” Izuku said, confused.

Aurora nodded. 

“Yes, but I can take you to anywhere on Earth with teleportation magic if you have a reference. I can always sense you Izuku, so you won’t have to worry about me ever losing you while you explore.”

Izuku had looked around the Shizuoka prefecture and other cities around Japan in his search for libraries. However, since there was no one to fly him he hadn’t left the country. Learning to fly an airplane wasn’t something Izuku was interested in, and was far down on his to do list. But this was the perfect chance to tour his home.

He grinned.

“Let me show you exactly why we humans love this place.”

Aurora smiled back, eyes glittering. 

“I look forward to it.”

Then she launched the ball at his face again, without warning.

_2298_

Europe was _beautiful_.

Izuku, armed with the internet and too much time, picked all the best cities. It was pretty much a tourist’s dream: No crowds, no spending on anything.

Aurora was there once a week to marvel at the view with him. Izuku spent the rest of the time reading and learning new languages. Even when he now knew Japanese, German, Spanish, and English, French was _hard_.

Izuku stayed in hotels. Without people though, the empty buildings made him feel so _lonely_ that he made sure he was constantly reading or training. 

Was this what the rest of humanity felt when they were sent away? The feeling of being far away from what you call home?

He was brought out of his thoughts by a familiar flash of light, as Aurora teleported into his hotel room. 

While his clothing taste had gotten slightly better from meeting someone frequently, hers had been drastically influenced by her time spent on Earth. 

Aurora was wearing a red dress that was simplistic in design but suited her completely. She had been growing out her hair, and it now fell to her shoulders. The stars unique to her eyes seemed to be _sparkling_ , and she wore an excited smile at what he could have planned.

She was beautiful.

Aurora blushed, the pink contrasting with her purple eyes.

Ah, Izuku must have said that out loud. 

“Did you wait long?” Aurora asked, recovering. She held out her hand.

Izuku smiled, taking it.

“Not really, I was just thinking.”

“So what’s the place you wanted to show me?”

Izuku pictured the city in his mind, the one that had amazed him in the brochure.

“It’s a surprise.”

Izuku opened his eyes as they reappeared, high up. 

“So where are w-” Aurora started, and then cut off. Izuku saw why a moment later.

There was no one to maintain electricity, but with time stopped on Earth lightbulbs essentially had infinite power. Izuku had never been so glad for it until now.

The view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower was breathtaking. A seemingly endless amount of lights spread outward below him, buildings flashing and roads visible like paths filled with stationary cars.

It finally struck him now that this was the exact definition of a date, but for some reason that fact didn’t bother him at all. 

“I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about Earth.” Aurora said breathlessly, breaking the stunned silence. Her eyes were wide as she took in the sight.

Izuku chuckled lightly at her reaction as they stood there together. The realization slowly set in as he watched Aurora happily point out what she could see.

He loved her.

By human standards, Izuku was ridiculously dense. Izuku had known her for at least 50 years, already half of a human’s lifespan. When he looked back on it, Izuku was meeting someone once a week, usually at a beach or restaurant. They were basically dating already, only not romantically. Today was a major example: dressing up to show her the view in Paris of all things.

By divine standards, Izuku was realizing his feelings...too early? From what he knew, gods had incredibly high lifespans. A mere 50 years was probably not much to her. Izuku didn’t actually know how old Aurora was, since he figured it would be pretty rude to ask. Izuku had no idea how divine beings dated anyway. 

Another question was why. Izuku had read enough shoujo manga to know that love just happened. But Aurora was the only person he had to talk to. Was he falling for her just because there was no one else?

Aurora deserved better than that.

His long buried self discouragement showed itself for the first time in decades. Izuku didn’t have a complete understanding of his feelings. He wasn't enough.

Yet.

He let out a fond smile as he lifted her hand, pointing out his favorite parts of the view.

Izuku had time.

_2323_

Izuku knew he had loved analyzing, especially quirks, before The Drift(He figured it would be easier to think of the event with a name.)

Now, Izuku has an incredibly faint memory of superpowers- _quirks_. The only two heroes he knew of were All Might and Present Mic, and he had broken down their quirks long ago. 

Izuku’s ability to analyze things had instead developed into an intense drive to learn and adapt. Most of this was spent training his martial arts, or whatever new thing he found interesting to try.

At the point where he had an incredible understanding of Divinity, Izuku focused on developing his own staff techniques. 

What he had the most time analyzing through, was Aurora’s magic.

It made sense, as a goddess she must have countless years to practice. A simple name like ‘Light Magic’ just didn’t seem to fit in with the notebook’s worth of things she was capable of.

Just when Izuku thought he had seen everything, she would absorb the brightness from the nearby streetlight into her hair as she complained about a headache. 

So today, when Aurora said she had something magical to show him, he wasn't surprised. Excited yet worried, yes.

“Why are we in a football stadium?” Izuku asked.

“For the space! Plus, this was the closest thing to an arena nearby.” Aurora answered, excited as her arms gestured wide at the stadium.

They used to spar on Dagobah Beach, but that changed once they started travelling. Since they no longer had a fixed location, Aurora just chose clearings or wide areas for their practice. It wasn’t like there was anyone to complain.

“So we’re going to fight?” Izuku said, preparing himself.

“Well... _we’re_ not going to fight.” Aurora intoned, a strange expression forming on her face.

Izuku didn’t like that smile very much.

She raised her hands, and then closed her eyes in concentration. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then something began to form. 

Violet light condensed before gradually taking shape. Izuku could make out claws, and strong limbs connecting to a lion's body. But then wings formed out of the creature’s back, along with a deadly looking tail. The creature moved to Aurora’s side, _alive_ , coming up to her shoulders even on all fours.

Izuku faintly remembered the creature from ancient human mythology. A manticore, a beast with a lion’s body, yet also wings and a venomous tail.

“You can create creatures! That’s amazing!” Izuku exclaimed, awed. She just made a being out of _nothing_.

Aurora grinned, clearly enjoying the praise.

“Using your advice, I figured it out. My light can replicate life, as long as I understand it!”

Aurora opened her palm, focusing. After a few seconds, a pigeon formed, before flying away and dissipating. 

Just as Izuku was growing and adapting, so was she. 

“So where did you see a manticore?” Izuku asked, curious.

Aurora launches into a story about witnessing a battle between a manticore and a pro hero on a forest planet. The hero apparently had some kind of earth manipulation quirk, and was able to contain the beast’s flames and bury it. 

Aurora was able to visit other planets to help with magical related issues as part of the Council of Light. Izuku thought that sounded extremely important, but she brushed it off as simply “her job”. Currently she was monitoring Earth, and he saw her every Saturday. 

She couldn’t take him to any other planets, something that infuriated her.

Decades ago, the goddess hesitated from bringing up stories of world’s other than the god’s realm. But she understood that it didn’t affect him anymore.

Izuku had accepted that he would not see anyone else for quite some time.

His current life- months passing in an instant with training and weekly conversations- were all he really remembered. And Izuku enjoyed his current life. That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy hearing about other worlds. 

Or wasn’t lonely.

“So can you make sentient life?” Izuku suddenly said.

Aurora frowned. “Not yet. Right now, they only follow my commands, although they might have basic intelligence.” 

Izuku felt a small pang of disappointment, but not as much as he expected. It would have been really weird anyway to ask her to make people for him to talk to.

He looked at the manticore, who had been still during their conversation.

“So when are we going to sta-” Izuku was cut off as the manticore leapt at him, claws flashing. Reflexes kicking in, he leapt backward as the creature landed where he was, unslinging his trusty staff from his back in a fluid movement.

How rude.

“Begin!” Aurora yelled with a wide grin, as if the manticore hadn’t already started trying to kill him.

Izuku was mainly on the defensive, dodging and parrying the manticore’s claws and jaws. Manticores could breathe fire, but since it was a light replica the beast instead emitted a burst of violet light that was similar to Aurora’s own attacks. All of this combined with the tail whipping and stabbing at him, and a manticore was quite deadly.

But it was just too slow. Or more accurately, Izuku was too fast for it.

Izuku moved gracefully, dodging the attacks with skill born from years of experience. The light beams were the easiest to dodge, reminding him of his spars with Aurora. Izuku’s raw speed was more than enough for the tail to fly harmlessly past him, and claws were deflected before they could reach him. The manticore almost seemed to be getting frustrated, if that was possible for a light creature.

Finally, the beast made a desperate lunge, jaws wide as it reached for him...

Now.

In a smooth moment, Izuku twisted and the beast passed him yet again. 

But this time, he counter attacked.

He breathed in, focusing his strength into his arms as he moved into the familiar stance.

“Stance Two:”

Izuku swung his staff in an arc with all of his force and slamming into the beast’s jaw.

“Bash.”

The manticore _shattered_ , breaking into light fragments that dissolved into the air.

Izuku grinned, the familiar feeling of accomplishment rising up. He hadn’t ever sparred with anyone other than Aurora, and although he sometimes beat her she never went all out. This was a pure fight, that he won.

Furthermore, his technique _worked_. His created stances seemed to be worth the years of practice. 

“Can I fight it again?” Izuku pleaded.

_2346_

Izuku’s hair was turning white. 

He didn’t realize at first. There wasn’t much point in caring too much how he looked when there was almost no one to see him. Izuku wasn’t exactly a very social person in general either. 

At least, that’s what he assumed. Izuku couldn’t really remember what his life was like before the Drift. He did know he was quirkless, and with an invisible quirk he was definitely bullied. There wasn’t a single trace of him ever knowing a close friend either. 

So Izuku, being the antisocial, unfashionable person that he was, didn’t notice his hair color until he saw his reflection in a store window. 

Izuku’s hair was still mostly green. However, a decent portion was now white, creeping in like snow. Nothing else seemed to be different. His eyes were still green, giving him an interesting contrast. 

He opened his phone to check the year counter he made, and was shocked.

Izuku had been abandoned by humanity for _over a century_.

Aurora was confused when he brought it up to her.

“Don’t humans end up with white hair after many years?”

“Yes, because we get old. But I’m not supposed to age right?” Izuku asked, his worry leaking into his voice.

Was he dying? Izuku didn’t _feel_ like he was aging. His body and mind were still in ideal condition as he continued to train. Maybe he didn’t notice he was getting older biologically because of Earth being paused?

“You don’t age right now.” Aurora stated calmly, shutting down his spiral. “It’s probably the effects of living and training this long on your body. I mean no human has been suspended in time before, not to mention for such an extended period of time.”

Aurora tilted her head in thought. “I could try scanning you if you wanted?”

Using her magic to scan creatures allowed her to use a blueprint to see how to recreate them. By extension, Aurora would know if something was happening to him.

Izuku nodded.

The familiar light beamed over him, but unlike her attacks, it didn’t hurt at all. Instead, it felt warm, almost like a hug.

Aurora smiled when she ended her lightshow. 

“Nothing’s wrong. You're still Izuku Midoriya, just with whitish hair.”

“Also, it kind of looks better this way.” Aurora added, leaning back on the couch.

Aurora missed Izuku’s slight blush at the comment.

She made something that worried him seem so simple. 

Izuku realized that until then, it hadn’t fully clicked that he wasn’t aging. But this meant he really did have time. Time to get stronger, learn whatever he wanted.

Whatever he wanted?

“Hey Aurora?”

“Yeah?” she responded, turning towards him.

“Is it possible for me to learn magic?” Izuku asked.

Aurora just stared at him, eyes wide. He knew it, it was a dumb quest-

“You mean that you’ve watched me use magic constantly, for a century, and you're asking now?” she asked, incredulous. 

Izuku scratched his head awkwardly, a bit embarrassed by her reaction.

“Well you talked about how the magic you could learn was based on your quirk. Since I’m quirkless…” Izuku trailed off.

Suddenly, Aurora grabbed his hands, focusing. Used to her bursts of inspiration, he waited.

Soon Izuku felt the same feeling run through him from earlier as she scanned him briefly before opening her eyes. 

“Your body has the capacity for reinforcement magic.” Aurora said. “But your right, you don’t have magic circuits yourself.”

Aurora grinned. 

“So I’ll give you some!” she continued, beaming. “But I’ll warn you, it’ll probably hurt. Are you sure you want me to do it?”

Izuku didn’t bother asking if she could do it. The confident smile told him everything. How could he say no to having _magic?_ Aurora wouldn’t have mentioned it if it could kill him.

“I trust you.” Izuku answered, easily. For some reason, this caused her cheeks to take on a pink tint. Maybe she was tired? 

Aurora held his hands again, breaking him out of his thoughts, and he braced himself.

For a second, there was blinding pain. It was like being electrocuted from the inside of his body, feeling every part of him cry out. And then it ended, as soon as it started.

Izuku lifted his hands, looking at them. Nothing seemed different, but he could _feel_ the energy under his skin, completely calm compared to a moment ago. 

When he concentrated, a violet spark formed on his fingers.

Izuku lifted his gaze to Aurora to thank her, but found her passed out. A lazy smile filled her face as she lay on the couch.

She really did so much for him.

Izuku reached over to wake her; it was late and she probably needed to go back. Then he paused. Checking the time, there were still a few hours left.

It would be fine if he let her sleep a little longer. 


End file.
